In depth and mini reviews of movies with a sprinkling of nostalgia and film music musings.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Score Sample: 10 Cloverfield Lane

I've mentioned a few times on this blog that my favorite film composer is Jerry Goldsmith. He wrote a bunch of really fine film music, but I feel his work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture may be his best. I already wrote a whole blog post about why I love that score (check that out here). One of the main reasons is the crazy electronic instrument: the Blaster Beam. This bad boy was used in quite a few scores in the late 70s and early 80s, but pretty much vanished after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock in 1984.

Then along comes composer Bear McCreary who is known for his work on the revisit to Battlestar Galactica as well as his use of unique instruments. He felt that the Blaster Beam would be the perfect addition to his score for 10 Cloverfield Lane. So he reached out to the creator of the Beam, Craig Huxley, and asked him to perform the Beam for the score. Well, my love for the Blaster Beam knows no bounds, so when I heard it was going to appear on this score I had to pick it up.

McCreary creates a really great theme for the film and puts it through all kinds of variations, building suspense and terror in equal amounts. The Beam adds an unearthly presence to the whole thing. Check out this edit from the end credits suite for the film featuring the Beam and an interesting video of all the unique instruments McCreary compiled of the score. The Blaster Beam can be heard and seen at the 2:20 mark. Enjoy!

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About Me

I'm a writer who loves movies, books, video games and music. Wow, that's pretty generic eh? Been a staff writer for DVD Verdict.com and animeondvd.com. I worked at a video store for nearly 10 years. Still working on genre fiction both short and novel length.